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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Federal Trade Commission" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <alwaysavailable39@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2019 08:15:56 -0000
Subject: Congratulations Lucky Winner.

HTML Editor - Full Version
Congratulations,

Your email has been selected as the winner of the $1,000,000.00 lottery prize. Click Here to claim and receive your winning prize immediately.

Federal Trade Commission
Consumer Protection Department

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Anti-fraud resources: